


You're going to kill it

by Rmbz



Series: 10 times Tommy helped a member of The Gang TM + 1 time they helped him [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, He will not let Quackity feel bad about himself, Protective TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), inspired by Lillian_nator's YBLN AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28128447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rmbz/pseuds/Rmbz
Summary: Quackity loves mock trial, but it makes him incredibly stressed. Luckily Tommy's there to get him out of his head.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & TommyInnit
Series: 10 times Tommy helped a member of The Gang TM + 1 time they helped him [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060664
Comments: 27
Kudos: 198





	1. Regionals

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by ["Where is My Mind"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27155905) by [Lillian_nator](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lillian_nator/pseuds/Lillian_nator). 



It was the first competition of the school year, and Quackity was stressed out of his mind. Despite only being a junior, he had been made the captain of his school's mock trial team, a role typically reserved for one of the seniors.

He had spent the past few months frantically trying to earn the team's respect, and get them the win they had so narrowly lost out on the year before. He helped them write and memorise scripts, learn the rules of evidence, practice their objection battles, improve their presentation, develop their characters, and form chemistry with their partners. He had spent the last three practices just answering any last minute questions they had. 

It hadn’t left him with as much time to work on his own parts as he would’ve liked, but it was a sacrifice he had been willing to make.

He kind of regretted it now. He was pacing around their teams assigned room running through his closings, making sure he had them memorised. But he kept getting distracted. He would suddenly think of an objection someone could make to him, and have to work through it before he could go back to the closing. Or someone would come up to him with a question that he knew he had answered at the last practice. Or he would start to talk himself into believing that he was going to fail and ruin everything for the team.

His stomach and chest were tight, and he could feel a lump in his throat. He wasn’t going to be able to do this. Why did anyone think he was qualified for this? Why had he taken on more than he could handle? Why was he-

“BIG Q”

What? That sounded like- But it couldn’t be. No one had _ever_ come to watch him compete before. 

He turned from where he’d been pacing to look at the door. Sure enough there was Tommy holding a package of licorice. 

“What are you doing here Tommy?”

“I’m here to cheer you on, of course!”

“But…but why?”

“Well I figured that since you show up at all of my games, it was only fair that I come support you.”

“Oh. Well, ok then. Um I’m practicing scripts right now, but the pairings for round one should be out in ten minutes.”

“You look stressed, how’re you feeling big man.”

“Oh I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Big Q, you are clearly not fine. Your hands are shaking, you keep fiddling with your sleeves, and your voice has gone up a pitch.”

Sometimes Quackity forgot how observant Tommy was. He hated to put his problems on the freshman, but he needed to get this off of his chest.

“I’m not ready. I don’t know my scripts well enough. I’m going to fuck up in the middle, and then my team will lose, and it’ll be my fault, and I’ll be the worst captain ever!”

“Hey, no, you’re not going to fuck up. You’re going to do great. And even if you do mess something up, forget something you planned, I know you. You are one of the smartest people I know. You’ll be able to fix it. And I don’t think you are even _capable_ of being a bad captain.”

Quackity looked at him in shock. He had said similar things in the past, but he’d never had them said to him.

“Really?”

“Really. Now I want you to sit down, eat some licorice, and relax. You’re going to kill it, but you can’t do that if you’re wrapped up in your own head.”

And Tommy was right. Quackity’s team managed to sweep the tournament with a ballot record of 9-0.

As they went on stage to receive their award for first place, Quackity saw Tommy in the audience. He was clapping and smiling. He noticed Quackity looking at him and mouthed “I told you that you could do it.”

  
  



	2. State

Two weeks later, Quackity was sitting on the school bus that was making the four hour drive to the state competition. His stomach was already starting to tie itself into knots, and they didn’t even start competing until tomorrow.

He pulled out his phone and considered texting his friends. But then he remembered that it was a friday, and they would all be in class. So he switched over to his scripts and started running through the changes.

The next day, he was the first one awake. He didn’t feel like he could stomach breakfast, so he got his suit on and wandered the halls of the hotel. Slowly the rest of his team started to wake up and get ready, but every moment he waited, every step he paced, the more stressed he got. 

They had made their defense case theory riskier, and it all hinged on one particular point he had to make during his cross. If he screwed it up, or worse if he forgot it, the entire trial would collapse. He had to get it right. He couldn’t let his team down. But it hadn’t gone right the last time they practiced it. What if it didn’t work. It would be all his fault. His team would hate him. He would hate him. No. No. He just had to get it right. If he got it right everything would be ok. If he got it right he could prove he deserved his role.

Soon they were pulling up to the courthouse, and he longed to be back in those moments at the hotel that felt like they were lasting forever, longed to be back on the bus worrying, longed to be back at regionals with Tommy standing behind him offering him licorice. He herded his team off of the bus, made sure they didn’t forget anything, and prepared to walk in.

“HEY QUACKITY”

He whipped his head to the side at the familiar voice. He wasn’t supposed to be here. They were four hours away from home, and he hadn’t told him when state was happening.

But there he was, holding an iced coffee and a croissant, smiling at him from under a scarf.

He separated from his team and walked over.

“Tommy? How did you even get here?”

“I took a bus, it wasn’t that hard. Here these are for you.” He pushed the food into Quackity’s hand. “They are your favorites right?”

“Yeah, sorry I’m still kind of surprised you’re here.”

“Don’t worry about it Quackity. Are you ready for today?”

It was like a stone dropped in Quackity’s stomach. “Right the competition.”

“You’ll do fine Quackity, I’ve seen how many times you practiced those scripts.”

“But what if I don’t? What if I screw it up for everybody and then they all hate me?”

“Quackity, it is not humanly possible to hate you. And besides you won’t screw up.”

“But what if I do?”

“Quackity, are you insinuating that I’m going to be wrong? You know rule number one: I am never wrong!”

“Of course how could I forget, If Tommy says it then it must be true.”

“And don’t you forget it! Now, let’s go in and I’ll watch you kick some ass.”

Once again, Tommy was proved to be right. They made it to the final round. 

“Tommy, I don’t know if I can do this. This is where we lost last year. This round, against this team, playing this side of the case. It’s going to happen again this year.”

“Quackity, I need you to breathe. This year will be different. You are ready for this, it’s what you’ve been practicing for all season. You’ve got this. You’re going to kill it.”

“Alright, ok, I’ve got this.”

“Yeah you do!”

“Can I have a hug before I go in?”

“Hell yeah you can have a hug!”

Tommy opened his arms, and Quackity fell into them. It felt more like home than anywhere else ever had.

“Now go in there and destroy them.”

And he did. Afterwards, after the judges gave their comments, after they announced the winner, after he jumped around with his team, he found Tommy. He was smiling back at him proudly, and Quackity realized that this was what family was.


	3. Nationals

Quackity wished his family could come to nationals with him, but it was all the way across the country and plane tickets were expensive. So there he was on the plane frantically memorising scripts. His school had never made it to nationals before, they didn’t know how much harder it was to prepare a case in only a month and a half. They had always had three or four months to prepare. So they had only finished writing the scripts the night before.

There was this ever present dread in Quackity, that had been there since state. They weren’t going to be ready, half his team didn’t know their scripts at all, and the other half were only shakily memorised. They weren’t going to be able to hold it together in trial and he would forever be known as the captain who took his team to nationals and then couldn’t prepare them for it. He was afraid one of their freshmen would just burst into tears in the middle of a round. He was afraid that one of the seniors would try to save the day and end up screwing the rest of the team over. He was afraid that one of their sophomores would just stop in the middle of her opening statement. He was afraid that he wouldn’t remember how to do objections and would let the other side bulldoze them. He was afraid that he would let everyone down, himself, his teammates, the school, his friends, Tommy. Tommy thought they were going to do well, he would be so disappointed if they didn’t. 

Quackity didn’t get much memorizing done on that plane trip.

That weekend, everything that could go wrong did. The airport lost one of their suits. Their hotel ended up being overbooked, so they had to cram too many kids into each room. Two separate teammates worked themselves into breakdowns. They were almost late to check into the tournament. They had one of the hardest schedules out of any of the teams. Every single person on the team had some form of mistake during trial. Out of twelve possible ballots, they only took two. All in all it was a terrible weekend.

Quackity felt drained. He knew he should probably feel something more, but all he could feel was numb. He had needed to hold himself together to support his team earlier, but he thought the emotions would be hitting him now. He was laying in his bed with the rest of the team asleep around him. 

He reached over and grabbed his phone. When he powered it on, he saw a text from several hours ago. It was from ‘Big T <3’.

“Hey Big Q, how was your weekend :)”

He considered answering it for a minute, but decided not to. He would just pretend he had been asleep. He didn’t want to face Tommy’s disappointment quite yet. 

As if matching the team’s mood, it rained the next day. Quackity tried to catch up on some sleep while on the plane, but he couldn’t stop thinking through every misstep he’d made. Logically he knew that their score wasn’t all his fault, but he felt like he had failed them as their captain. 

When they got to the airport, his team split off to go find their parents. He had driven himself to the airport and left his car in the parking lot, so he didn’t bother rushing. 

He made it out to the main part of the airport and was trudging towards the doors when he heard a shout from his left.

“BIG Q, OVER HERE”

He turns and sees Tommy waving at him furiously. That’s when his emotions finally hit him, and he just starts sobbing right there in the middle of the airport.

Within seconds, he can feel someone pulling him into their arms and then pulling them both down to the ground. He’s sitting on Tommy’s lap, his head tucked into his shoulder, and it should feel wrong. It shouldn’t feel so right to break down in the younger boys embrace. But it does. And as his sobs start to die down, he realises that Tommy’s been rubbing his back and murmuring soft words of comfort.

“I let the team down Tommy. I’m the worst captain ever, they never should have trusted me with this role.”

“Hey now, one bad tournament does not a bad captain make. You have done so _so_ well. Answer me this, has the school ever made nationals before?”

“No.”

“Who was it who just took a team to nationals.”

“Me”

“Look, Quackity I’m going to be serious with you for a minute, and you know how much I hate being serious.”

That got a small laugh out of Quackity, which made Tommy smile.

“I’ve watched you prepare for this tournament, and you put so much time and effort into this. You dedicated all of yourself for that team. They couldn’t ask for a better captain. But you need to stop trying to hold everything together on your own. Lean on your friends, we’ll always be there to support you.”

“Really?”

“Of course Quackity, you’re basically my older brother at this point. I love you so much.”

“ _Tommy.”_

Quackity pulled Tommy in tighter, and then realised that they were still sitting on a dirty floor in the middle of the airport.

“Look, I love you too, but could we maybe get up. People are looking at us.”

“Oh, crap, yeah we can finish this conversation later.”

“Do you need a ride home?”

“Nah, Wilbur’s waiting for me in the parking lot.”

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow then.”

“Of course. Hey Quackity?”

“Yeah?”

“Even if you didn’t win, you still killed it this weekend.”


End file.
